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Types of Magic
There are many different kinds and varieties of magic in the Whateley universe and it is not at all clear to what degree the magic users agree on how to call and differentiate them. This article is an attempt to organize those that have been mentioned so far. Paradigma The clearest case are the various ways to approach magic as a whole, called paradigma in this article. The closest term used in-universe is tradition,Christmas Elves: Fey and Jade's Holiday HavocThere's an Angel in Dickinson Cottage: Part 2 but that word seems unfitting to describe Chaos magic, Techno-Magic or the difference between Theurgy and the other variants. A type of magic is called a paradigm when it is defined by the theories, methods and techniques used rather than by the effect or the general way it is achieved, so most of what is possible to do with one paradigm should also be possible with the other paradigma, though quite possibly much more difficult, and there may be effects unique to a certain paradigm - likely the case for many effects of GOO sorcery - or contrary to the nature of some paradigms, for instance Necromancy. It is unclear whether all Laws of Magic are universal to all paradigma, or to what degree skill in one paradigm carries over to another. Caveat lector!'As with all areas in which the Whateley Universe superficially resembles the reader's outside world, your mileage WILL vary. Hermeticism Rule based magic making use of tarot cards, complex diagrams and rituals etc. Usually just called western magic or modern magic. Users: most modern mages Natural/Chaos Magic The category for those without proper paradigm, using magic on instinct, by trial and error, or any other way that doesn't involve following the theories and techniques of a paradigm. Mutants with a wizard trait high enough to cast spells, but without any proper training would fall into this. Users: Fey, Eldritch, Artificers in general. Shamanism The popular image of shamanic magic is that of a First Nations medicine man chanting to nature spirits, accompanied by drumming and perhaps other singers. In so far as that is an intersection of numerous culture-specific practices, it's not too far off. A would-be shaman may go through an apprenticeship during which they may learn many healing and hermful uses of herbs in the area. They work to build personal relationships with the spirits that wish to guide their community, the better to help their community to heal divisions amongst each other or between themselves and the spirit people. Such divisions can be manifest as illness, poor hunting, poor harvests, etc. Shamanic magic is not normally fast-acting magic, nor easy on the medicine person or their patient. While it can be used to cause harm or destroy, that misuse is some of the blackest of human magics. Users: Charlie Lodgeman, Pejuta, Wendigo, Gray Skies Taoist Magic Taoist magic makes use of Chi instead of essence (in so far as they are different things) and doesn't teach the laws of magic recognized by western magic, being more art and even less science.Five Elements Dancing: Book of the Earth'' Whether that means that the laws simply don't apply at all or that the taoist mage develops a feeling for the workings of magic instead of framing it in explicit rules is unclear. Users: Master Zheng, the Eight Immortals, the Monkey King, Bladedancer, Rebecca Stone Techno-Magic Users: Korrupt, Nephandus (?) Theurgy Users: Reverend Englund, Petra Donner, Seraphim(?) Voodoo Voodoo (Louisiana), or Vodou (Haiti), along with Santería, Candomblé and a number of other syncretic traditions are rooted in West African religion, informed by Roman Catholicism and First Nation beliefs, growing in the Americas under slavery and later in freedom. In many ways, magical practice in these traditions may outwardly resemble elements of shamanic magic, or theurgy (when working with the Lwa or the Orishas), Wicca, even blood magic (ritual sacrifice). Users: Voodude, Quimbanda Wicca Users: Diamondback (?) Non-human traditions Fae Magic Users: Aunghadhail, Fey, Cirque (?), The Bastard(?) GOO Sorcery see also Cthulhu Mythos#GOO Sorcery Users: Gothmog, Carmilla, The Bastard(?), Hekate, Hekate's Master, The Necromancer Infernal Magic Users: Converso (?), Svipdag (?) Spheres The types of magic defined by the general way an effect is achieved are called spheres in this article. The difference between spheres and fields is not always clear and the differentiation has not been made explicit in canon, though there have been uses that suggest it. Conjuration Also called Conjury. :One of the problems with Conjury, from the point of view of an unscrupulous conjurer, is that once you summon a demon or elemental, you can’t just put them on hold until you need them. You have to give them orders right then, right there. This presents a lot of logistical problems. So, someone came up with a technique of temporarily binding a summoned creature into small temporary ‘vessels’. They call them ‘Conjure seeds’, or ‘Demon Seeds’, or ‘Dragons Teeth’. Each one of these things is about the size of a peach pit, and since the demon or elemental hasn’t been completely brought into the world yet, it will fit into the seed. There’s a specific key to activate these ‘seeds’, depending on the nature of the being that’s under wraps. For an Earth elemental, you’d plant the seed; for a Fire elemental, you’d throw it in a fire.Brother Keifhauser in There's an Angel in Father John's Basement: Part 1 A conjuration may result in one or more physical objects that can persist after the casting, even if the magician is interrupted. These are not active spells in the usual sense until the conditions for completion are met (E.g., a 'demon seed' is activated, the conjured object is destroyed, or the conjured spirit is banished/released from the object). Examples presumably include the Parasitic Roots of P’kanopt themselves and the Resplendent Golden Rose of a Thousand Burning Petals, but not Lamplighter's lantern. Example Conjurations * Summoning preserved frogs''Petra 1: Rock and a Hard Place - Part 5'' * Summon a demon or elemental) * Calling forth the Parasitic Roots of P’kanopt,The Boston Brawl II - This Time It's Personal! * Anti-Paladin calling forth his weapons. * Resplendent Golden Rose of a Thousand Burning Petals Conjuration Specialists * Conjure Enchantment Where do all the beautiful toys come from? Enchantment. How do you get strangers to do your bidding? Enchantment. The goal is to work a spell, or even complex spellwork, into an object, a person, a place. Amulets, talismans, weapons, and more. :Ideally, an enchantment should be a single, fluid, unbroken process.Hakim Al-Feyez in There's an Angel in Dickinson Cottage: Part 2 :Part of enchanting an item is to attune it to the higher planes, giving it an etheric identity. She-Beast in No Beast So Fierce If the object didn't exist before the spell(s) cast, that's a conjuration. Curse Presumably, an enchantment cast with malicious intent directly upon a person or via an enchanted object. Enchanted Examples * Sewer Detention coveralls''North To Atlantis'' * Skybolt and Cavalier for much of 2006. * Consecrating a magician's personal tools. * Wakan Mila * Malachim's Feather * Needle Specialists * Eldritch (Any of the Artificers) * Seraphim ?? Charms Apparently a class of enchanted items that are intended to have a specific effect on some target(s) independent of the charm itself. Spell slips calligraphed on perishable paper may be the best known, but potions may also qualify. Example Charms * Love Potion No. 9 * Spell slips * Fey's privacy crystal * Molly's misdirection/ hiding charm,Summoning Tactics * Jadis' suspension charm,Have Yourself an EVIL Little Christmas: Part 2 * The charm that activates the chasing effect of Ms Grimes' bowling ball (and needs to be renewed after each activation).The Three Little Witches * The ghostwalking and shield charms Pejuta has made may qualify.There's No Place Like Poe * The Gentleman's charms made to protect the Liberty League from telepaths and mind control.Nerves of Steel, Part 3 * When the owner of a sampson stone is killed or their soul pulled from their body, the stone burns through their soul's energies as a final strike.To Be Merry and Escape From It All Charm Specialists * Charmer * Bladedancer * Cauldron Evocation :The act of summoning and releasing things, be it power, a spirit or daemon. Ophelia Tenent in A Single Fold Evocation Specialists * Elyzia Grimes * Theophany Invocation :Similar to Evocation though lending itself more to the gathering of information from sprits and other sources Invocation Specialists * Elyzia Grimes (invokes The Kodiak in ''Even Murphy's Law has Loopholes'Even Murphy's Law has Loopholes, Part 3'' * Theophany Necromancy Necromancy is still a controlled area of study under the Mutant Morality Guidelines Act.Insanity Prerequisite, Part 2 :Practitioners of Necromancy claim to be able to call a soul back from the dead and place it in a corpse. A Simple Game :Necromancy breaks the great cycle of life and death and rebirth, so it’s fundamentally violating the soul of any nature-based magics. Even calling up spirits of the dead may break the cycle.Elyzia Grimes via Beltane in Ayla and the Great Shoulder Angel Conspiracy: Chapter 2 - Cherubim Necromancy Examples * Making preserved frogs come to life * Zombies''The Boston Brawl'' Necromancers * The Necromancer Transmutation Transmutation has been called a branch of Thaumaturgy, but it's unclear whether Thaumaturgy in this context is another word for magic or just a type of magic, and how it is differentiated from other types if the latter. Transmutation Examples * Changing rock into sand,Ayla and the Birthday Brawl: Chapter 4 - The Legend of Cambel and Triamond, or of Friendship * Changing someone's sex,Insanity Prerequisite: Part 3 - Metamorphosis * Changing something into a different Material, even Mithril or Orichalcum.Call The Thunder: Chapter 3 - All's Fair in Fun and Chaos Transmutation Specialists * Eldritch Transfiguration Apparently a type of transmutation, possibly those of living beings. Alternatively a different method to achieve results superficially similar to transmutation, or just another word for transmutation. Transfiguration Examples * Changing cops into something else (reversible),Ayla and the Grinch (A Christmas Story) * Changing a BIT.Ayla and the Tests Chapter 6 - The Stymphalian Birds Transmutation Specialists ??? Sympathetic Magic Magic making use of the Law of Similarity. :Sympathetic magic uses the link between two identical patterns as a conduit for magical power.Carmilla in Insanity Prerequisite - Part 2: Destabilization Sympathetic Magic Examples * Fey's privacy charm. * Voodude's voodoo doll Brief Glimpses * Anything done to Leanne being felt by HankTo Companions, New and Old! Fields The types of magic defined by the result of a spell or by what is affected are called fields in this article. Alchemy Example: Brew a mystic philter. :This is because both Enchantment and Alchemy are very personal processes. The Alchemist isn’t just a person who mixes the chemicals and heats them. No, the Alchemist is a part of the process. A personal, intimate and crucial part of the process. Specialists: Master Zheng, Hakim Al-Feyez, Eldritch (?) Erebeal Magic Shadow-based magic. Instead of being canceled out by light it is instead strengthened. :The pervasive gloom, the clammy atmosphere, the sense that someone’s watching you, the sensation of little hooks digging into your flesh, those are all telltale signs of Erebeal MagicShe-Beast in Have Yourself an EVIL Little Christmas: Part 2 Specialists: Sabbath, Nightchylde, Nacht Healing Specialists: Lifeline, Sanctuary Illusion Examples: Conjuring the illusion of a knife.Child of Confusion Nature Magic Palantir describes it as magic that "uses essence from nature, like plants and stuff"Trials of a Warrior (Chapter 1) Elemental Magic Specialists: Sir Wallace WestmontFey: Adjustments Fertility Magic Weather Magic Specialists: Sir Wallace Westmont''Ill Winds: Part V'' Fate Magic Examples: Hekate's lesser Seeing.It's Good to be the Don Divination :The ability to tell the future or to find a person or object using items that resonate with the subject or by manipulating energies connected with the subject. Divination is different from Precognition because of its reliance on these energies. Divining Rods are a good example of this, not just any forked stick will work, the rod must be specially prepared to find water and a mystically sensitive individual is required to use it successfully. Carmilla in Insanity Prerequisite: Part 1 - Status Quo The dominant form of divination seems to involve invocation, but it is also possible to cast a divination as a conjuration, for instance Conjure's conjury of seeing.The Turks or the Geek Specialists: Gypsy, Circe(?), Quimbanda Summoning :A spiritual bargain where you in effect contract for the creature for a limited period of time.She-Beast in Five Elements Dancing: Book of the Earth Examples: Fire Faerie, pixies, demonic entities. Specialists: Mr. Langford, Charmer, Gateway, Fey(?) Time Magic Specialists: Pater Tempus Necromancy/Death Magic :Necromancy breaks the great cycle of life and death and rebirth, so it’s fundamentally violating the soul of any nature-based magics Specialists: The Necromancer, Svipdag References Category:Magic